The growing imbalance between supply and demand for road space in many regions has placed increasing pressure on road authorities. There are rising expectations of what the authorities and road network operations should achieve. Traffic incidents and congestion in one locality can quickly impact on road users elsewhere, with the result that a wide-area, integrated approach is needed. Increasingly road network operations are required 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Five main areas of activity can be identified in Road Network Operations:
Each of these activity areas has aspects that are important to the quest for a better level of service for the road user, but none of them holds any real precedence over the others.
1. Network monitoring is necessary for the preparation of adequate operating, maintenance and capital renewal budgets, establishing policies and procedures and overall strategic network planning. The road operator or responsible authority must have continual access to quantitative and qualitative information on traffic and the roadway. An additional benefit is to provide users with information and advice on alternate routes by performing expert analysis on traffic volumes, distributions and fluctuations. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) technologies provide the basis for monitoring road traffic and network status data close to real time. Increasingly day-to-day data on traffic conditions is gathered through direct contact from travellers and from mobile phone data (See Monitoring Activities)
2. Network operations are needed in order to manage and maintain the road network as effectively as possible and implement adequate operational measures. Activities include emergency response, weather related services, planned interventions and automatic enforcement, all imperative to mitigating and reducing the frequency of crisis situations. ITS helps in maintaining the viability of the road network by providing users with credible, real time information on unpredictable or forecast events. Reliable information helps to secure user compliance with control measures necessary for events such as adverse weather, natural disasters, major sporting and cultural events and evacuation in the case of emergencies (See Operational Activities)
3. Traffic control is there to minimize congestion and user disruption, for example by distributing all planned roadwork over a reasonable space and time period. This is done through information gathering, analysis, development of traffic management plans and then implementing and communicating this to the user. The risk of gridlock can be minimised by computerised signal control and active traffic management. Coordinated action by various authorities and services can reduce the impact of otherwise-disruptive events (See Traffic Control)
4. Demand management can create conditions that will lead to a beneficial reduction in traffic levels in various ways, for example by advising the use of alternate travel periods, travel modes and routes in response to a forecast drop in road network service levels. Congestion can often be eased by efforts to encourage users to alter the timing of journeys to spread traffic over time. Tolling technologies are also used a means of influencing peak demand through road pricing or a congestion charge. Fees can automatically be raised during peak periods and lowered during periods of lighter traffic, as well as promoting use of public transit during rush hours. The same technologies can be used for parking payment and access control (See Demand Management)
5. Traveller and road user services can also increase the efficiency of the road network by enabling information exchange between partners that is then disseminated to road users. Identifying blockage points and organizing or reorganizing to ensure the system functions effectively is key for activities such as winter maintenance; reducing the time required to restore normal conditions, minimizing disruption to the local economy and improve safety, as well as redirecting certain types of traffic, such as removing heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) from problem areas. Advanced user information also provides comfort to travellers who need to feel confident and secure in their journey. Typical applications include route confirmation, journey time estimates, clear direction signs and advice on approaching interchanges and connections. This kind of information is commonly delivered in-vehicle through satellite navigation systems (See Travel Information Systems)
The benefits of Road Network Operations apply to all road users and the public at large. They include improved safety, minimized adverse impacts on the environment due to reduced congestion, improved mobility and energy efficiencies, as well as enhanced economic productivity from reduced travel times (See ITS Benefits)
Road Network Operations is a strategic approach to maximising efficiency on existing and future road infrastructure. At the tactical level this strategy translates into improving operations with the objective of reducing traffic delays and operating day-by-day in a more efficient way. At the strategic level, it means integrating the operations concept early on in the development of all road infrastructure projects, beginning with the planning and design process and ensuring adequate resources, both fiscal and personnel.
The road network operator has to consider the methods, organisational structures and resources needed to support strategies for road network operations, maintenance and incident response.
Objectives of the network operator include:
Congestion: Relieving congestion is achieved by optimizing the management of traffic signals; detecting and managing incidents on the highway network, access control systems; High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes; journey time information; speed management. (See Network Control)
Safety: Improving safety requires measures such as adaptive speed control, collision detection and avoidance; enhanced vehicle safety systems; weather and road condition information. (See Road Safety)
Security: Maintaining security is done through evacuation route signing and priority; homeland security initiatives such as deployed in the USA, hazardous load monitoring and assistance for vulnerable road users. (See Network Security and Emergency Response)
Environmental protection: Ensuring environmental monitoring and protection requires a reduction in traffic congestion, creation of low-emission zones and promotion of public transport alternatives. (See Transport Demand Management)
Support for business & commerce: Increasing productivity and operational efficiencies can be achieved by fleet management; computer aided dispatch; automatic vehicle location; automatic cargo tracking; electronic pre-clearance; vehicle compliance checking and driver monitoring. (See Freight and Commercial Services)
Road user services: Providing comfort to users of transportation system who need to feel confident and secure is the motivation for applications such as route confirmation, journey time estimates and clear advice on approaching interchanges and connections. Relevant ITS services include real-time traffic and public transport information; dynamic route guidance; automotive vehicle location (AVL); smart card payment systems for toll highway and public transport use. (See Traveller Services).
Network operations are generally split into several bodies that are responsible for different parts of the road hierarchy: urban networks are owned and operated by city councils, peri-urban networks by city councils or Regional bodies, and motorway networks by Regional bodies, Transport ministries publicly-owned companies or private concessionaires.
The challenge for the public sector managers of the transportation system is significant. Their approach in operating a complex system requires making the road user/customer the focal point. Many constraints and challenges are revealed with this focus related to the need to constantly assess performance and thus develop appropriate and accurate tools and indicators to assess performance. Technology development is increasingly rapid and a constant appreciation of the latest means of data collection and tools for dissemination is essential. (See Measuring Performance) In addition network managers need to develop appropriate organizational structures, budgeting approaches and operational procedures appropriate to the complexities of the network they control. (See Strategic Planning, Finance and Contracts and Operational Activities)
The organisational structure for integrated road network operations over a wide area is likely to focus on the development of coordinated operations between different road and transport operators as the primary goal.
Planning can be carried out in two stages:
Stage 1. This involves making a detailed analysis of traffic load on the network and the current level of operations, to identify problems and define response strategies. The objective is to develop operational objectives and requirements for the five main areas of RNO activity.
The analysis will need to look at current operating patterns, traffic volumes, accident analysis, and other factors relevant to the local situation.
A study of the existing organisational set-up is needed backed up with a survey of problems encountered (incident numbers, magnitude and frequency). Based on the results, the main requirements of an operating policy can be defined.
Stage 2. An operations programme will be devised in response to the problems identified. The purpose will be to organise and develop organisational capability in the areas of safety and road operations, in order to improve the agency's capabilities and provide users with consistent service levels.
Strategies to be implemented need to be fine-tuned; the allocation of roles and responsibilities agreed between the various actors; and the required organisational structure specified. If a department dedicated to network operations is to be created the plan should specify the necessary human and financial resources.
Within the organisation, those sections with direct responsibility for network operations must be identified together and assigned tasks in order to:
Activities linked to road operations should also be included as part of any strategic initiative conducted by the department, such as service delivery projects and quality initiatives. It is useful to identify specialised, complementary units each with its own tasks and responsibilities and define the necessary interaction between them that can incorporate:
It is recommended that staff engaged in network operations should organise or take part in training activities and periodic meetings to discuss experience or exchange information. Operators must be subject to continual evaluation through adoption of performance level assessment. (See Planning and Reporting)
Transport policy/programme context: The role of the Network Operator has changed significantly in the recent years. It has moved from a construction-oriented organization and mandate, to a performance and efficiency-oriented role. Various reforms, performance based budgets and privatisation has been implemented. To guarantee the policy outcome, evaluation is proving to be much more important. (See Evaluation)
Result-oriented management: Recent changes in the ways of administration are now demanding a result-oriented management with emphasis on the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act) to spiral up services and technologies.
Enhanced accountability to the public: Accountability, not only to the public but also to the relevant stakeholders, is becoming important for the road network operator to ensure transparency of policies/programs and to gain public support for traffic management and network operations projects. In particular, evaluation can support budget procurement, which is an immediate requirement before an RNO project can be launched. For these reasons, countries like USA and UK are among those that actively release data and information from performance evaluations into the public domain.
Investment appraisal: Investment in new technologies and services needs to bring direct benefits to road users as well as the road owners and operators. Evaluation of operations should cover those issues that are directly and indirectly linked to users. The other purpose is to look at the business case for developing ITS technologies and services. A well-planned evaluation will contribute to an elaboration of how to improve technology, how to widen service range, how to raise the quality of ITS services. (See Project Appraisal)
To counter-balance this problem, new types of actions are introduced such as:
In addition, ITS requires the development of telecommunication backbones that will help to overcome this kind of obstacle. (See Building ITS Capacity)
A road operator or road authority's assets will consist of:
Considerable investment is needed to maintain these assets. Failure to maintain and update the hardware assets may lead to road safety issues. Failure to retain records may lead to abortive expenditure or even litigation should some disaster occur.
An authority must appreciate the benefits and accept the need to introduce asset management planning and direct sufficient resources to the process. To succeed, it is necessary for Chief Executives, Technical, Corporate and Service Directors to contribute positively to the process.
Consideration of the value of assets held and their potential contribution to improved service delivery must be a high priority, along with their effective, efficient and economical management. This will necessitate the introduction of strategic asset management planning. The tool to achieve this is the Asset Management Plan.
The Asset Management Plan (AMP) should genuinely challenge what and how services can be improved through more effective asset management. The plan will be a corporate document, which will link to corporate and service objectives.
Systems that will facilitate a two-way information flow between the various planning processes need to be set up.
The key benefits in preparing an AMP include:
These benefits cannot be gained without the allocation of sufficient resources to the AMP process. Lack of attention to the asset management will have a detrimental effect on the quality of service. There is a serious risk of wasting money on assets that are not required to meet service needs or are unnecessarily costly to run. Failure to provide service can arise because equipment is of poor physical quality or there is insufficient data to inform decisions about how best to manage. Poorly defined financial and managerial procedures also cloud accountability.
The key elements of effective asset management planning are:
The adoption of an effective asset management-planning regime has potentially significant resource implications. These include:
Key processes should be linked to the budget cycle.
It is recommended that an AMP should have 5 key parts:
It is further suggested that an Asset Management Plan is prepared on a 5 year cycle, with annual review and updating.
Financing methods have profound, although indirect, impacts on the incentives to provide roads infrastructure and the organisations involved in Network Operations.
In many countries National tax is used for operating and maintaining national and regional networks. This National tax includes funds coming from the general State budget together with special fuel tax, or vehicle tax. Road network operations are funded through public bodies, although this may be divided between two or more agencies (for example the roads authority and traffic police).
Operations and maintenance tasks that are performed by a private company under contract are sometimes paid for on the basis of traffic volume managed. Payments are made from the national (or regional) budget (incomes and taxes) in order that the system appears free to the users.
In the case of concessions to private operators, operational costs are often covered by user fees (tolling), which also cover the repayment of the debt (principal and interest) and maintenance costs. (See Toll Collection)
In Europe, at the level of the European Union, several financing mechanisms exist which contribute to a maximum level of 50 % to road infrastructure expenses on fulfilment of European goals. A road network of strategic interest has been defined at the European level, the TERN (Trans-European Road Network). Faced with new challenges new ways of financing this network have been advocated:
Countries such as the UK now have extensive experience of private funding of road infrastructure. ”Shadow tolling” is also considered. The concept of shadow tolling is to have the toll paid by the authorities (Government, Regional, Local) according to traffic volumes and certain criteria such as level of service.
The indirect impact of the financing method on the operation level of service in a given environment is very significant. In practice, the deployment of new ITS services is sometimes initiated after an institutional change linked to financing issues. (See Finance and Contracts)
New technologies, termed Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), provide a means to acquire a better knowledge of the transport network and to implement every available means to optimise network operations, traffic management and services available to customers. These technologies thus become an integrated element of the concept of network operations facilitating the improved efficiency of the transportation system.
ITS can maintain or expand the level of service to road users by increasing throughput (measured in terms of the number of people, or number of vehicles, or amount of goods moved per unit time). ITS can also support management of infrastructure at times of extreme events (for example flooding, extreme storms), by providing high-performance real-time information to operators and users. (See ITS Applications and Services)
From the perspective of road owners and operators many ITS products and services improve efficiency by optimising the use of existing facilities and s-of-way. With these improvements, requirements for mobility and commerce can be met and the need to construct new or expanded facilities can be reduced. ITS provides a tool kit for transport network managers to use for increasing efficiency; improving safety; encouraging alternative modes and assisting with the management of roadway maintenance and construction. (See Benefits of ITS)
The formal evaluation of benefits from ITS applied to network operations is a specialist area. Many results, articles and discussion papers can be obtained through the International Benefits, Evaluation and Costs Group (See IBEC), from the European Evaluation Expert group and for North America at the USDOT ITS Benefits web site. The Deming wheel principle of continual improvement applies (PDCA cycle). (See Evaluation)
The major functions of ITS applications in Road Network Operations are:
Timely warning of unsafe road conditions and congestion reduces the occurrence of accidents and collisions. Incidents such as crashes and vehicle breakdowns as well as impassable/ unsafe road conditions are estimated to cause up to 60% of annual roadway congestion in some congested networks. The traffic congestion that results from these incidents can lead to additional crashes and cause delayed response to emergency situations. According to one study, for every minute an incident remains on the roadway, it causes an additional five minutes of delay after the incident is cleared. Other solutions include better road works planning, lane restrictions, bad weather and road conditions alerts, and automatic braking systems. (See Traffic Management Strategies, Driver Support, Travel Information Systems and Traveller Services)
ITS and related technologies have been widely accepted by both the public authorities and the private sector as a way to achieving the goal of sustainable mobility – while at the same time improving quality of life. For example:
There are significant supply-side benefits of ITS in highways management. Improvements in the infrastructure affect directly each vehicle/driver using the roads. Lane management has been one of the outstanding successes of ITS. This includes HOV lanes, reversible flow lanes, variable speed limits and enforcement systems.These systems maximise the use of the infrastructure available, saving or postponing the very large costs of expanding the networks. (See Advanced Systems and Traffic Management)
While cost reduction is of interest to all road users, the associated benefits of ITS are most tangible to the operators of vehicle fleets and highway infrastructure. Productivity benefits have been assessed from the perspectives of fleet managers, transit authorities, and toll agencies. ITS options for fleet operations include Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) using sophisticated logistics software and communications between the dispatcher and the driver. Each individual intervention appears marginal, but the overall effect in journey time reliability and time savings can make the difference between hitting a Just-in-Time delivery slot and missing it. (See Passenger Transport Operations and Freight & Delivery Operations)
International regulations impose restrictions on the collection, storage, processing and dissemination of data relating to individuals and their behaviour. Individual national legislation is based on these principles. As information relating to movement of individuals is used in ITS applications these regulations impose obligations on network operators. (See Privacy)
The need for total anonymity is seldom a strong requirement from users; nevertheless most users do require the protection of their privacy by the operator.
The privacy of the user is maintained if the following conditions are met:
In the context of traffic management, privacy is the need for travellers to be able to move freely without any other person being able to find out the time and place of travel. The privacy issue is different for private cars and for commercial vehicles and it is perceived very differently in different countries and cultures.
In general:
The privacy rules are the key to success or failure as illustrated by the following:
The network operators who gather and use “confidential” data must ensure that the data is automatically rendered anonymous whenever possible. Encryption at source is required and data should be destroyed immediately after use. (See Data Ownership and Sharing)
To date the liabilities in traffic operations have been relatively clear cut:
With the advent of new cooperative ITS applications the border becomes fuzzier, because some applications are based on systems that have an in-vehicle as well as a road-side component and they function only if both components are working. As long as the functions are not relevant for safety (for example Traffic and Traveller Information and Electronic Fee Collection systems), the liability issues are minimal.
It is totally different if in-vehicle driver assistance systems are introduced that include roadside components, for example:
Network operators cannot take over the liability for the functioning of the in-vehicle components because they have no control over their correct functioning, operation and maintenance. (See Driver Support and Liability)
From the network operators standpoint there are only two possibilities to cope with this situation:
New technologies for traffic management often increase the risks for the operator. Network operators must assess these risks and provide the necessary counter-measures.
Among the possible risks are:
Security measures taken by the network operators must include:
(See Security of ITS)